Prince George Starts at Eton Under Strict New iPad Rules
Prince George has started at Eton College under new rules that sharply limit what first-year boys can see and do on their school iPads.
The all-boys boarding school has told parents of new starters, including the 13-year-old eldest child of Prince William and Princess Kate, that the devices will work through a specially designed safe browser tied to a teacher-approved whitelist of sites. HELLO! Magazine
He arrived on 8 September accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Kensington Palace, Prince William's office, had confirmed in June that he would join Eton from September 2026. Reuters The first day was wet. BBC
Under the guidance, school iPads for academic use connect only to a dedicated network called Eton-Learning. From October, first-years can use the safe browser to open whitelist sites approved by teachers, who are known at Eton as beaks. They are banned from keeping devices overnight. On Saturday nights they must hand them in 30 minutes earlier than before.
The tighter limits were set out in a summer letter from deputy head Mike Grenier to parents of incoming first-years. Eton first introduced iPads for learning in 2019 and issues them to all first-year boys on arrival. Since 2024, first-years have received Nokia 'brick' phones because smartphones are banned.
The change follows complaints from families. In December 2024 more than 100 parents wrote jointly to Provost Sir Nicholas Coleridge, the head of the school's governing body, and school leaders about device and internet-access policy. Parents said boys were using iPads for gaming and open internet access during lessons and homework time.
There is also a privacy shield around the new intake. Ahead of George's arrival, a new rule barred media, onlookers and even pupils from pointing cameras and smartphones at students' faces near the school. Vanity Fair
George was born at 4.24pm on 22 July 2013 at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London. He is the eldest of three children of the Prince and Princess of Wales, with Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis as younger siblings. His father, the heir to the throne, attended Eton before him. Reuters
What makes this stand out is how ordinary the rules make the start. No smartphones. A basic handset, a locked-down browser and an early hand-in apply to a future king and his classmates alike.
